My Biz: Business coach guides clients to find balance

Name: Jennifer Zach

Title: Owner and coach

Company: Zach Coaching

“Country home” address: 1948 Zach Lane, Ely; Wholistic Wellness Clinic and Spa: 1731 Boyson Road, Hiawatha

Phone: (319) 848-2043

Website: www.zachcoaching.com

Elevator speech: Live well, work well, be well

ELY - It's not, insists Jennifer Zach, simply about finding another job.

A reexamination of one's career goals, Zach said, is about “becoming more aligned with yourself. I want people to realize that by aligning with and living true to their values they will have the balance and inner peace that they're looking for.

“You will serve better and you can hear where you are being called.”

Zach is an International Coach Federation Certified Professional Life and Business Coach and author of “Let Your Light Shine.”

“When I first started out it, was my intent to coach locally and globally, but I made the decision to focus locally because this is my home and where I want to make a difference in other people's lives.”

Zach works with professionals who are changing careers to entrepreneurs, specifically micro-business owners. She explained they do some soul searching to find clarity, focus and vision, as well as how to be more present in their life and exercise the power of choice.

And her approach to coaching is as simple as helping her clients answer two questions: Who am I? and Why am I here?

“First I ask clients to identify their top five values through a visual values assessment,” she said. “Next, we literally take a look at what's on their plate and how it aligns or doesn't align with their core values.”

She then leads clients to making decisions about what gets on their life to-do list based on alignment with those values.

Zach started her company three years ago, after working for some 20 years as a telecommunications analyst.

“I understand taking a leap of faith, and that's what I help people with,” she said.

No two works days are alike for Zach, but she does keep a routine splitting her office time and meetings with clients between her sunroom studio at home in Ely and the Wholistic Wellness Clinic and Spa in Hiawatha. She also creates a variety of events and seminars to help engage and educate her clients and the broader community, including her “Passion Driven Professionals” series and a “Micro-Business Breakfast Roundtable.”

Zach also makes a point to practice what she teaches. She has a journal that serves as her business plan and created an “ideal client” mobile.

Zach even works with her own business coach - a mentor from Coach U where she earned her certification.

Know a business owner or manager who should be considered for “My Biz” or an entrepreneur who might be ideal for our soon-to-debut “From the Ground Up”? Contact business editor Michael Chevy Castranova at michael.castranova@sourcemedia.net.